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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does the cashier turn off the outside lights?
(a) So he can take a ten-minute smoking break.
(b) To close early and go home to his family.
(c) To keep customers away while the problem is being resolved.
(d) So the monthly electric bill won't be as high.

2. Who is Lucy-amma?
(a) The local school teacher.
(b) The old cook-woman.
(c) The young girl next door.
(d) The neighborhood matchmaker.

3. What do Triton, Mr. Salgado, and others in the neighborhood hear coming from house number eight?
(a) Terrible howl.
(b) Piercing screams.
(c) Beautiful singing.
(d) Loud music.

4. When Triton finds himself alone with Joseph at Mr. Salgado's house, what is he afraid of?
(a) That Joseph's brothers beats him up.
(b) That Joseph starves him.
(c) That Joseph throws him into the bay.
(d) That Joseph forces him to sleep outside, under the bridge.

5. As the narrator begins to speak about his former life in Sri Lanka, he talks about a ______.
(a) Glass-bottom boat.
(b) Flower-adorned shrine.
(c) Dome-shaped temple.
(d) Bay-fronted house.

Short Answer Questions

1. How far away is Sri Lanka from England?

2. What vehicle does the narrator own when the story opens?

3. What color is the narrator's vehicle mentioned at the start of the story?

4. The haberdasher who stops by Mr. Salgado's house on Thursdays is one of the what who stops by regularly?

5. What do the police and neighbors discover at house number eight?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the end of the first section, what does the narrator begin to talk about with the gas station cashier?

2. What does the London cashier say about the situation back home in Sri Lanka?

3. When the cashier asks the narrator if he lives close by, what does the man reply?

4. In "Part 1, Kolla", why is Triton left alone in Mr. Salgado's house?

5. Why is young Triton brought to Mr. Salgado's home?

6. Where does this story begin?

7. Describe the relationship between Triton and Mr. Salgado.

8. What happens in 1962, when Triton's narration begins?

9. Why does the gas station cashier want the narrator to speak with his boss?

10. At the start of the story, how does the narrator try to help the cashier?

(see the answer keys)

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